Bare Bones, Strong Hearts
by gandalf537
Summary: Mary Lou Barebone wasn't a decent mother, and not necessarily a decent woman. But her children- her children were a different story. Credence could hold his head high, Chastity wasn't a mama's girl like she seemed, and Modesty was extremely good at reading people. Together, they were practically unstoppable. A series of oneshots about the Barebone children. Latest- Cold Shoulders.
1. Bare Bones

One: Bare Bones

 **A/N1: This is a series of oneshots about the Barebone children, because I love them and they deserve better. Please enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, or the Barebones.**

 **A/N2: I like to think, at least in the beginning, Mary Lou was a bit kinder to her children.**

 **Credence age 8, 1915.**

"Credence, this is your new mother." The social worker gently guided the terrified eight-year-old to the stiff woman. The woman's demeanor changed immediately in the presence of the child. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyes warmed, and she smiled kindly.

"Hello, Credence," the woman said. "I'm Mary Lou Barebone, your new mother."

"My new...Ma?" the small, raven-haired boy said uncertainly.

"Yes," Mary Lou said. Credence tentatively switched from holding the hands of the social worker to Mary Lou. Mary Lou beamed.

"Ma," Credence said again. His eyes crinkled a bit- not quite a smile, but close.

"Good," Mary Lou said. "And your name is now Credence Barebone."

"Credence Barebone," Credence repeated. "Not Credence Stewart?"

"Barebone," Mary Lou confirmed. "You must leave your past behind, and head to a new future." She stood up and turned to the social worker. "Thank you so much, Mister-"

"-Graves," the man with stark blond hair finished. "Andrius Graves."

"Thank you, Mister Graves," Mary Lou said. "I can take him from here. Come, Credence, to your new home." Credence nodded and glanced around. Andrius Graves waved goodbye. Credence turned away, clutching Mary Lou with one hand and a small bag of belongings with the other. The two exit the building. Credence smiled, a slight skip in his step- this might be a chance to start over. Mary Lou hailed a cab quickly.

"I run a small school," Mary Lou informed the boy as they rode in the taxi. "I'm sure you won't mind attending it."

"No, ma'am- I mean, Ma," Credence said stiffly. "Thank you very much, ma'-Ma."

"I understand that this must be very confusing for you," Mary Lou said. "But you understand why I chose _you_ , out of all the children?"

"No, Ma," Credence said. He stared out the taxi window- he had never seen this much of New York before.

"Your birth mother- she was different. And a very bad different," Mary Lou told the boy. "She was a witch?"

"A witch?" Credence perked up.

"A wicked witch," Mary Lou said. Credence slouched a bit. "Don't worry. You're away from her now. But that is what I am trying to do- bring awareness to our fellow Americans that witches live among us!" Mary Lou looked at Credence expectantly to find him nodding vigorously. The woman smiles. The taxi halts to a stop.

"Here we are," Mary Lou said. "Your new home."


	2. Stiff Bodies

Two: Stiff Bodies

 **A/N: If you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions! I have some pre-written and a few more planned out, but please, prompts are welcome!**

 **Credence age 8, 1915.**

"And this is where you will sleep," Mary Lou finished. She placed Credence's small bag of things onto the stiff bed. "I suppose in the morning we'll buy you some new clothes and things."

"Thank you," Credence said quietly. Mary Lou smiled.

"Now that you've had something to eat, is there anything else you would like before bed?" Mary Lou asked. Credence shook his head quickly. "Very well. Goodnight, then." She reached an arm out cautiously, so Credence would have the chance to deny it if he wanted. But Credence accepted the gesture of affection, wrapping his arms around Mary Lou cautiously. She patted his back.

"Thank you," he mumbled one more time. Mary Lou nodded and closed the door. Credence stared around the room, taking it all in- in foster care for six of his eight years, he had never had a room to himself before. He laid down on the bed, carefully pulling the blankets over him and shivered slightly.

He was not sure yet if he was going to like this house. On one hand, the woman who adopted him seemed very nice, but there was a certain coldness in her eyes and a stiffness in her body that suggested otherwise.

Credence did not sleep very well that night.

In the morning, he awoke with a stiff body.

He got dressed in the same clothes he had worn the previous day and paused at the door. He paused again at the stairs. Mary Lou was already in the small kitchen, cooking something that smelled delicious.

She made delicious meals for the first three weeks. Credence attended the school she ran, helping out occasionally, and learning about the dangers of witches.

At the beginning of the fourth week, there wasn't a delicious meal. Instead, there was a man, sitting across from Mary Lou.

"Credence," Mary Lou said, smiling warmly as she always did. "I'm sorry this is on such short notice, but I've decided that since I enjoy you so much I would like to find you a sister."

"A- a sister?" Credence stammered. He wasn't so sure about this- what if she didn't like him? What if he didn't like her? What if she was mean to him? Mary Lou nodded.

"And I've found the perfect girl."


	3. High Heads

Three: High Heads

 **A/N: R &R if you'd like, but most of all enjoy.**

 **Chastity age 10, Credence age 8, 1915.**

Credence held his head high as he descended down the stairs. Mary Lou was standing there, one hand on the shoulder of a girl. _She'll like you. She has to. You're two years younger. She can't be mean, or Ma will be mad_. He notices this girl, too, also has her head held high. But not in superiority, but because he knows Mary Lou must have given her the same talk as she had given him.

"Credence!" Mary Lou called. "Come meet your new sister, Chastity."

"Hello," Chastity said, offering a little curtsey. Credence noted that though he knew she was ten and he was eight, she looked younger than him. "I'm Chastity Willows." Mary Lou's fingers tightened around the girl's shoulders. "Barebone," Chastity corrected quickly. "Chastity Barebone."

"I'm Credence Stew-Barebone," Credence introduced himself quickly.

Mary Lou was right, she had found the perfect girl. The two children acted around each other in such a way that suggested they had been siblings all their lives, though Chastity's short-cut blond waves and Credence's raven hair told otherwise. They followed their mother to all of her meetings, always holding their heads high like she instructed them. The two always stayed together and always stayed loyal to their adoptive mother, even when she began to turn violent if they did something wrong.

It started with a quick slap when Credence failed to do his homework. He stared at his Ma, stunned. Across the room, Chastity, washing the dishes, froze. She turned slowly to Mary Lou, then looked quickly away.

After the one quick slap came more when he failed to do chores or schoolwork. The older girl comforted her adoptive brother the best she could. But she always kept up the pretense of mama's girl, always appearing to soak in whatever spewed out of her mother's mouth. But as soon a Mary Lou was out of earshot she comforted her brother with thoughts of revenge that she knew could never happen.

Chastity never lowered her head, but Credence did. And though she nudged his hip with hers, or elbowed him in the side, or tapped his shoulder, he hardly ever raised it.

But if he did raise his head- if he did-


	4. Cold Shoulders

**Update! This chapter is a little longer than the others. If you haven't noticed, for clarification, the ages of the siblings and the year are at the beginning of the chapter. And oops, I put a bit of a lead-in at the end of the last chapter, but that's the next chapter. Sorry. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **To "Unpredictable (Guest)": I'm so glad you like it! If you're going to continue reading, I'd suggest checking on weekends for updates because that's when I have the most time to update. Thank you so much for reviewing!**

 **And thank you to everyone who followed and favorited!**

Four: Cold Shoulders

Chastity age 11, Credence age 9, 1916.

"Come on, Credence!" one of the boys called.

"Yeah, you can do it, Credence!" another shouted. Credence sighed and looked across the river. All the boys had jumped, and almost all had made it. The unfortunate boy who hadn't made it had run home soaking and in tears.

"I don't think-" Credence started, but the biggest and meanest of the boys on the other side of the river interrupted him.

"You're not gonna chicken out, are you?" he taunted. "Not gonna go running home to mommy and sissy now, are you?"

Credence bit back a retort, as he had learned to do in the past year. He spread his legs and pushes down, ready to give his all and leap across the river, finally proving he wasn't a baby.

He froze as he saw the water rushing below him.

Chastity rushed along the narrow, rocky path, clutching her books tightly to her chest. Only one thought raced through her mind, and that is of her brother. She had told him not to go galloping around with those boys again, she _told_ him, and if he came home sopping wet and got a beating from Mother he'd only have himself to blame. But if she didn't make it in time, then she'd blame herself, and there was no way she wanted him beaten bloody again.

"Credence!" Chastity called as she saw him preparing to jump. She tried to keep the panic out of her voice. "Credence, Mother says it's time to come home. She has a meeting tonight."  
"Ooh," one of the boys called. "You better go, Credence, you don't want mommy or sissy to get mad."

"Shut your face, Will, I know for a fact from your sister you wet the bed 'til you were eight," Chastity snapped. She grabbed Credence's arm and steered him away.

"Thanks," Credence mumbled. Chastity turned back to the boys.

"You all go to my mother's school. You start spreading lies about my brother, I'll make sure she knows for a fact you've got witch's marks in unrespectable places, and I'm not sure you want your asses hanging out for all the girls to see." She glared at any boy that dared contradict her. No one did, terrified in the face of the girl that could have passed for eight but seemed to know all of their weaknesses.

"Thanks," Credence muttered again.  
"It's not a big deal," Chastity said. "Cold shoulders are nothing to be bothered by. If those idiots would stop giving you a hard time we wouldn't have to go through this every other week." Chastity glanced around as the rocky path turns to a sidewalk. At five o'clock, the streetlights were beginning to turn on, and the darkness was beginning to set in. Chastity immediately resumed the look of the small, modest girl most New Yorkers knew. She grabbed Credence's hand and pushed him slightly in front of her, so it looked like he's leading her instead of the other way around. She kept a tight hold of his hand, though. The two barely made it home before five-thirty, their curfew, but they both looked acceptable. Mary Lou accepted it.

Both Chastity and Credence let out a breath they hadn't realized they had been holding in.

The next morning, the children filed into the school building. Chastity stood at the door, as usual, giving each one to pass through a small stack of pamphlets to hand out. She stood stiffly, though when she saw Will and his gang she glared. They took their pamphlets and rushed to the dining room, where the children gathered every morning. "Hand out your pamphlets!" she called, as was routine. As Will passed her, she said quietly, "I'll know if you don't." He scurried away.

However, her threat wasn't enough. At lunch, as she passed Will and his goonies to sit with her friend Rebecca, one of the boys, Arnold, caught her arm. Arnold was a large boy her age, and she was insanely sick of his constant antics that always resulted in punishment for him but occasionally laughs for her.  
"Your brother 'ad better watch 'is back," Arnold hissed. "If 'e gets cold shoulders 'gain, we's won't be so forgivin' this time."

"You had better watch yours," Chastity replied cooly. "Or there may be more than one person watching _your_ fat behind."

Arnold blushed. Chastity ripped her arm out of his grip and practically raced to where Rebecca, Credence, and a small boy called Geoffrey were sitting. Credence had his head hunched over his bowl of porridge, while Geoffrey was trying to get him to laugh. Rebecca brightened when she saw Chastity, and they talked about simple things like the weather and the recently renamed New Salem Philanthropic Society, or just N.S.P.S.

Chastity once during the lunch made the mistake to glance at Arnold, Will, and their friends. What she saw was a scrawny boy she figured they just kept around for laughs called Patrick waving his arms wildly with an expression of fear and discomfort on his face. She knew immediately he was mocking Credence.

She stood up, muttered to Rebecca that she would be right back, and went straight to her adoptive mother, standing behind the bowls of porridge and baskets of lentils.

"Mother," she said formally. "I have been informed by Arnold and Will that they believe Patrick has a witch's mark on the back of his left thigh, just underneath his buttocks." She said this quite loudly. The entire lunchroom fell silent as her words were spoken.

"Patrick!" Mary Lou called. Patrick's face went white. He stood and walked over to the two women, looking very much like he was walking straight to his own death. Mary Lou repeated the information Chastity had given him, quite loudly, and the entire lunchroom burst into laughter. Once sharp glance from Mary Lou silenced that.

"No, ma'am," Patrick replied. "I don't believe I do."  
"You don't believe you do," Mary Lou echoed. She sighed. "I'm sorry, boy, but this is for your own good." She marched him out of the dining room into the entrance of the church. Several boys raced after them to stand in the doorway and watch Patrick's embarrassment. Chastity was content to watch with Credence, Rebecca, and Geoffrey from afar. She took immense pleasure in seeing how red Patrick's face was when he walked back into the room, followed by her mother, his friends howling with laughter. She caught Will's eye.

"You'll be next," she mouthed. His eyes widened and he turned away. Chastity grinned.

"Thanks," Credence said quietly, barely loud enough for their two friends to hear. His head was raised slightly higher than before.

Chastity smiled and put an arm around her brother. He froze at the contact and she quickly withdrew. They spent the rest of the lunch hour in silence. Then Mary Lou, getting a sudden, horrifying idea, decided to check all of Patrick's group of friends for witch's marks.

Needless to say, the rest of the day was highly enjoyable for Credence and Chastity.


End file.
